Ray Coleman Jr., president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1570, said the president’s assertion that federal workers support the shut down is simply not true.

"The general consensus is, 'Hey, let's come together and open the government so we can get paid and you guys can dialogue about that and come to a consensus about whatever we need to do to move forward, but pay us for the jobs we're doing in the meantime,'" Coleman said. "You know we don't like being political pawns in a political chess match."

Coleman estimates Florida is home to between 3,000 and 4,000 federal prison workers.

A total of 800,000 federal employees nationwide are either working without pay or have been furloughed as a result of the shutdown.